Patt Diroll: Starting with the Finnish

Pasadena was party central on Sept. 29 with five - count 'em, five! - competing events on the social calendar: benefits for the Pasadena Museum of History, Gooden Center, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena Senior Center and the opening of A Noise Within's new season.

Why so many gigs scheduled on the same night?

Beats me, but seasoned social terriers say they are savvy enough to avoid competing with the Great God Football. Neither the Trojans nor the Bruins had home games that weekend.

It was a tough choice, but photog James Carbone and I managed to hit two of the local bashes.

Our evening began at the recently renovated Fenyes Mansion, once the Finnish Consulate in L.A., and since 1970, home of the Pasadena Museum of History.

It will not re-open to the public until early December.

However more than 250 guests at the PHM's annual Contemporary History Makers Gala were treated to a sneak preview of the lower floors of the 16-room, Beaux Arts-style landmark.

The black-tie event, which raised $130,000 for the museum's education programs, not only celebrated the completion of the three-year project and the generosity of The Paloheimo Foundation, donor of $1.7 million for the restoration, but also honored seven "Contemporary History Makers": Karen Craig, Don Fedde, Janet Kadin, William F. Kruse, Laura Thompson, Randolph G. Wilson, and Fred G. Zepeda.

Jim Watterson, the doyen of Pasadena event planners, added a delightful dose of d j vu to the party with a display of vintage automobiles around the grounds, where fashion models were posed in authentic clothing from 1906 to the 1940's.

Harking back to the heyday of the Fenyes family, a butler and three footmen were on duty to greet the more than 250 guests including Hizzoner Bill Bogaard and his wife, Claire; Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, Kirsti Westphalen, Finland's Consul General in Los Angeles; Derek Schearer, former American Ambassador to Finland, and members of the Fenyes-Curtin-Paloheimo clan who occupied the Orange Grove Boulevard estate for four generations.

The room on the first floor, the former office of Y.A. Paloheimo, husband of Eva Fenyes' granddaughter Leonora "Babsie" Curtin, has been preserved exactly as it was when he served as Finnish Consul General to L.A. from 1948 to 1964.

Among the family members on hand for the festivities were George Paloheimo and his wife Rita, and George Jr. and his wife Joylynn.

As the light began to fade and a corn moon rose over the gardens, guests were led down to the estate's broad lawn where Chef Joachim Splichal's Patina staff was preparing to serve a bill o' fare from Pasadena's old Maryland Hotel found in the PMH archives: asparagus mousseline; short ribs, carrots Vichy and pommes chateau, topped off with pear tart and pistachio ice cream in a crunchy tuile for dessert.

Right up the street, beneath the full moon over the lawns of the landmark Gamble House, 280 guests celebrated the 50th anniversary of Pasadena's Gooden Center.

Since 1962, when the late Bishop Robert Gooden, along with five members of Alcoholics Anonymous - including the late Lou Rowan, co-founder of Oak Tree Racing Association and the Winners Foundation - established the facility in an 1894 Craftsman home on North El Molino Avenue, more than 7,000 men have completed its recovery program.

The event, which raised more than $80,000, honored L.A. attorney Robert Shapiro and the Brent Shapiro Foundation for Alcohol and Drug Awareness. In 2005, his son Brent died at age 24, the result of a drug overdose. Since then, his dad, mother Linell, and brother Grant have been dedicated to raising awareness of addiction problems among young people.

"Our mission is education," said Shapiro in acknowledging the tribute. "It doesn't matter whether this disease is acquired or genetic. We are trying to prevent it. We know that if we can prevent kids from using drugs or alcohol before the age of 15, the odds of their having a lifelong problem go down by 40 to 60 percent. Our message is very simple," he said. "If you think there is a problem, you are right. There is a problem! Don't be afraid to talk to kids. Because if you don't, you will be talking about it at a funeral, as I did."

There's always stiff competition for the charity dollar, however all the fundraisers on Sept. 29 did well. Pacific Asia Museum's 35th annual Festival of the Autumn Moon netted more than $230,000. The Pasadena Senior Center's annual "Zest" gala raised more than $68,000. And, the next morning, in spite of the sizzling heat, an estimated 2,800 folks - many with multiple mutts in tow - participated in the Pasadena Humane Society's annual "Wiggle Waggle Walk" around the Rose Bowl. PHS Executive Director Steve McNall reports that the walk raised a record $340,000.